Nicotine and Babies

Daphnia magna is an almost-microscopic, transparent, fresh-water crustacean that looks something like a very intelligent, infinitesimal shrimp. But for medical researchers Daphnia has other charms than looks: under the influence of low concentrations of drugs such as strychnine or nicotine in the water, Daphnia swims erratically, does loop-the-loops; as concentrations increase, Daphnia gets convulsions, swims on its back, goes into a coma, dies.

Last week Dr. H. Harris Perlman and co-workers of Jewish Hospital in Philadelphia reported in the A.M.A. Journal tests with Daphnia which showed that smoking does not harm a nursing mother if the mother smoked before her child was born, because 1) the baby apparently cannot get enough nicotine that way to hurt him, 2) before he is born he develops a tolerance for nicotine from the nicotine in his mother's blood. The doctors insist their findings are no argument for prospective mothers to take up smoking.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.